1. No category

International Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences.
Available online at www.ijagcs.com
IJACS/2015/8-3/495-502
ISSN 2227-670X ©2015 IJACS Journal
A Sustainable Approach towards Minimizing
Atmospheric Benzene by the Use of Plants
Pallavi Saxena*# and Chirashree Ghosh
Environmental Pollution Laboratory, Department of Environmental studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
Present address: Space and Atmospheric Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
India
#
*corresponding author email: pallavienvironment@gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Benzene is recognized as human leukaemogen and may cause injury to human bone
marrow and damage to immune system. In India, especially in Delhi, from the past 2-3 years (2008
onwards), the concentration of benzene shows a remarkable increase in its diurnal as well as nocturnal
trend. Hence, there is a need to minimize the concentration of benzene in air by some cost effective
methods. The aim of our present study is to observe the variation in the concentration of benzene at two
sites, viz. Site I (Civil Lines, high traffic zone with less vegetative area, alongwith two nearby petrol
pumps) and Site II (Jawahar Vatika, University of Delhi, North Campus, less traffic zone with dense
vegetative area) during winter months and to suggest some benzene tolerant plants which are used for
improving the quality of air to make the environment sustainably secure for the human health. The results
shows that the concentration of benzene was found to be higher at Site I than at Site II as Site I has more
favourable factors for the production of benzene which includes transport emissions and the nearby petrol
pumps. Interestingly, it has been observed that the concentration of benzene crosses the permissible limit
at both the sites. For minimize the concentration of benzene in air, common plants like Dracaena
deremensis and Chamaedorea Seifrizii have been suggested to evaluate the tolerance and sensitivity of
both plants by taking Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) as a parameter. It was observed that Dracaena
deremensis was found to be tolerant and also good absorber of benzene in air by NASA study while
Chamaedorea Seifrizii was found to be sensitive and serve as bioindicator which further help in mitigating
the benzene pollution which indirectly support the sustenance of environment and help in protecting
human health.
Keywords: Benzene, VOCs, Delhi, Sustainable environment and Plants
INTRODUCTION
Urban air quality is deteoriating due to increase in traffic emissions which are having significant effects on
the health of plants as well as humans. The most contributing sector which is responsible for creating air pollution
is transportation. The emissions from transport sector are the key factors for the production of primary as well as
secondary pollutants, for example it has been determined that volatile organic compound (VOCs) (primary
pollutant) emissions from this source account for approximately 35% of all VOC emissions to the atmosphere
(Derwent et al., 2000). Due to the implementation of various policies and technologies the vehicle emissions are
getting improved and produce more clean air but due to the dramatic increase in the vehicular growth the situation
of increasing air pollution is getting worsen (Kahn, 1996). There are various air pollutants which are produced due
to traffic emissions. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) are one of the category of pollutants
which are most abundant and responsible for deteoriating the atmospheric chemistry (Brocco et al., 1997) and are
considered to be the markers for human exposure to VOCs, therefore, they remain in the centre of attention and
hence their monitoring is very necessary (Bergow et al., 1996; Bertoni et al., 2002). Vehicular emissions accounting
for approximately 70% of remaining all the sources emissions and another 10% comes from other sources like
distillation, evaporation of industrial solvents, refining and evaporation of gasoline from vehicles (Lenz and
Cozzarini, 1999; Schauer et al., 2002). Benzene has proven carcinogenic and having mutagenic properties
(Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1997). Besides this, the Department of Health and Human
Intl J Agri Crop Sci. Vol., 8 (3), 495-502, 2015
Services (HHS) has determined that benzene is a known human carcinogen (causes cancer). Workers exposed to
high levels of benzene in occupational settings were found to have an increase occurrence of leukaemia. Longterm exposure to high levels of benzene in the air can lead to leukaemia and cancers of the blood-forming organs.
Toluene, ethylbenzene, and the xylenes are also classified hazardous air toxics or air toxics in Canada (CEPA,
1999) and the United States (USEPA, 1990).
In India and in other western countries, benzene and toluene are potentially toxic air pollutants among
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Tyagi et al., 1999, 2004; CPCB,1999-2000). According to an estimate made
by Department of Environment, WHO (1993), about 50% of inhaled benzene in air is absorbed. Benzene intake
3
3
based on 24-hour exposure volume of 20 m at rest will be 10 mg/day for each 1 mg/m benzene in air. The daily
3
adult intake at a typical benzene level of 16 ug/ m will, therefore, be about 160 ug. WHO (1993) also estimates 4 in
3
1 million risk of leukaemia on exposure to a concentration of 1 ug/ m (0.31 ppb). Together with other pollutants,
benzene also participates in photochemical process, which result in formation of oxidants and smog. In India,
especially in Delhi, from the past 2-3 years (2008 onwards) as per analyzed by Delhi Pollution Control committee
and Central Pollution Control Board secondary data, the concentration of benzene shows a remarkable increase in
its diurnal as well as nocturnal trend. Interestingly, it has been observed that even after the implementation of new
control technologies like use of CNG considered to be best alternative fuel, there is no significant change reported
so far in the criteria pollutant concentrations. Hence, there is a need to minimize the concentration of benzene in air
by some cost effective methods. Therefore it’s our matter of interest in the present study to observe the variation in
the concentration of benzene at two sites, viz. Site I (Civil Lines, high traffic zone with less vegetative area,
alongwith two nearby petrol pumps) and Site II (Jawahar Vatika, University of Delhi, North Campus, less traffic
zone with dense vegetative area) during winter months (Oct-Nov, 2010) and to suggest some benzene tolerant
plants which are used for improving the quality of air to make the environment sustainably secure for the human
health.
METHODOLOGY
For the assessment of atmospheric benzene concentration at selected sites viz. Site I (Civil Lines, high
traffic zone with less vegetative area, surrounded by shopping complexes, small scale industries and along with
two nearby petrol pumps. In short this site is recognized as traffic intersection, petrol pump, commercial and
industrial) and Site II (Jawahar Vatika, University of Delhi, North Campus, i.e. institutional area, less traffic zone
with dense vegetative area and surrounded by residential flats (Figure 1). In short this site is recognized as
institutional and residential) during winter months (Oct-Nov, 2010).
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Organic Vapour Sampler (OVS) APM 856 (Envirotech Instruments Pvt. Ltd. India), consisting of fabricated
diffusive glass sampling tubes and regulated air suctioning pump, was used for the monitoring of benzene in air.
The ambient air was sucked through known amount of activated charcoal (18-35 mesh size)contained in sealed
glass tubes procured from Envirotech Instruments Pvt. Ltd. This method is TO-17 Method given by USEPA, 1999.
The activated charcoal samples were transferred from the sealed tubes into a glass vial and sealed immediately in
order to prevent further adsorption of compounds. These were stored at 4°C until analysis. To the sample vial, 2ml
of carbon disulphide was added and shaken gently for 40 minutes (Chan et al., 1999). Carbon disulphide was
filtered out with Teflon syringe filter (0.22µm).
Analysis was done by GC –FID (Shimazdu, GC-2010) equipped with Omega SPTm column (30mX 0.25
mm id). GC oven was programmed for 50°C, hold for two minutes and ramped to 260°C at a rate of 10°C / min with
12 minutes hold at 230°C. Nitrogen was used as carrier gas with flow rate of 1.21 ml / min and split ratio of 1:10.
The standard calibration mixture containing benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene and p-xylene
procured from Supelco was used for calibration. Calibration standards were prepared by diluting the stock standard
mixture. The quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) measures included laboratory and field blank and
replicates were taken for measurements of samples. For laboratory blank, unexposed charcoal tubes were
analyzed for VOCs similar to the exposed ones.
To minimize the concentration of benzene in air, as per our objective of the study, two plants were selected
like Dracaena deremensis and Chamaedorea Seifrizii at both the sites and analyze their tolerance limit by taking
Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) as a parameter. Sampling pattern of both the plant species was done every
week in a month and analyzed in duplicates for the authenticity of the data during winter months (Oct-Nov, 2010).
To evaluate the susceptibility level of plants to air pollutants four biochemical parameter namely Ascorbic acid,
Total Chlorophyll Content, Relative Water Content and Leaf extract pH were measured. These parameters were
computed together in a formulation to obtain an empirical value signifying the air pollution tolerance index (APTI) of
species (Singh and Rao,1983).The APTI of species was determined by using the formula developed by Singh and
Rao (1983)
APTI = A( T+P) + R
10
Where,
A = Ascorbic acid content of leaf in mg/g fresh wt (Law et al., 1983)
T = Total Chlorophyll of leaf mg/g fresh wt (Hiscox and Israelstam, 1979)
P = Leaf extract pH (Singh & Rao, 1983)
R = Percent Relative Water Content (Singh & Rao, 1983)
Based on APTI values the plants were conveniently grouped as follows:
0 - 1 = Most Sensitive
1 - 16 = Sensitive
17 - 29 = Intermediate
30 - 100 = Tolerant
Results and Discussion
For understanding the atmospheric chemistry profile of the benzene at two selected sites i.e. Traffic intersection,
petrol pump, commercial and industrial, Site I and institutional and residential area, Site II monitoring was
performed in three different seasons viz. summer (Apr-Jun), monsoon (July-Sept) and winter (Oct-Nov). From
Table 1 it has been clearly depicted that high concentrations of benzene were recorded during winter months as
compared to other months. Therefore, only these two months were selected for further benzene and plant study.
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Table 1. Monthly variation of benzene at selected sites, Site I & II.
Months
3
3
Benzene (µg/m ) – Site I
Benzene (µg/m ) – Site II
c
Apr
May
22.04 ± 0.65
c
17.04 ± 0.11
Jun
9.33 ± 0.32
b
1.11 ±0.33
c
0.86 ±0.26
d
0.42±0.33
e
c
0.24±0.11
c
0.13±0.22
d
0.08±0.13
c
July
Aug
Sept
3.33 ± 0.14
e
2.05 ± 0.10
e
1.88 ± 0.08
Oct
Nov
250.04 ± 2.95
a
1685.21±2.62
b
b
2.32 ±0.23
a
4.31 ±0.34
SiteI (traffic intersection) & Site II (institutional and residential)
Note: Each value represents mean of 15 replicates + standard error. Data followed by different letters in a column are
significantly different at P≤0.05. Data followed by same letters in a row are non-significant at P≤0.05.
The general trend of variation in meteorological parameters is shown in Table 2. Relative humidity upto
45% and wind speed upto 0.9% are most favourable conditions responsible for having high concentrations of air
pollutants during winter season (Bloomer et al., 2010) and Table 2 showed similar results. From Table 1, it has
been clearly depicted that the average concentration of photochemical pollutant i.e. benzene in both the winter
months were found to be higher at Site I as compared to Site II. This is because Site I is near to traffic intersection,
petrol pump, commercial and industrial with high peak volume of traffic which ultimately resulted in high emissions
from gasoline exhaust whereas Site II is away from traffic intersection so there very less chances for the production
of air pollutants. Moreover, Site I is surrounded by various eating points and hospital nearby which attracts
commuters causing formation of large queues, leading to idling of vehicles, which further added to the exhaust
load. In addition to that, neither hospital nor the market complex have adequate parking space which leads to
overcrowding and congestion of the roads, shoppers and other pedestrians crossing the main road further slows
down the traffic on the main road and thus more idling and slowing down of vehicles leads to higher pollution
emission at that site. During idling and deceleration, exhaust of motor vehicles contains high amounts of unburnt
hydrocarbons, (i.e., 500-1000 and 3000-12,000 ppmv respectively) in comparison to acceleration and cruising
phases (50-800 and 200-800 ppmv respectively) (Tamsanya and Chungpaibulpatana, 2009). From the above
observation, it was found that, Site I has high traffic pollution whereas Site II had very less concentrations of
photochemical pollutants which make this site somewhat equivalent to control site.
Table 2. Variation in Meteorological Parameters at different sites during winter months i.e. Oct - Nov, 2012.
S.N.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Parameters
o
Ambient temperature ( C)
Relative Humidity (%)
Wind Speed (km/hr)
2
Solar radiation (W/M )
Site I
14.94 – 20.87
38.76 – 43.39
0.13 – 0.42
125.00 – 134.76
Site II
13.45 – 21.18
37.43 – 42.13
0.16 – 0.53
126.76 – 130.87
Site I (Traffic intersection) Site II (Institutional and Residential area)
For the present study, benzene was selected. The criteria of selection of this pollutant was that, benzene is
the most carcinogenic compound in nature among BTEX according to Lee et al., 2002. The average concentrations
3
of benzene was estimated in the range of 250.04 ± 2.95 µg/m in the month of October, whereas in November
month, the estimated average concentrations of benzene was 1685.21±2.62 µg/m 3 (Table 1). Site II which is
institutional and residential and about 500m away from the nearest main road, exhibited estimated average
benzene concentration in the range of 2.32 ±0.23 µg/m 3 whereas in November, concentration of benzene was
observed in the range of 4.31 ±0.34 µg/m3 (Table 1). The pollution variability was high during November month as
compared to October, irrespective of the sites due to the fact that November is colder month than October. Higher
winter concentration was probably related to increased atmospheric stability, thermal inversion and poor dispersion
condition (Lal, 2010).
For improving the air quality, certain measures were adopted, but the most cost-effective way of
decreasing the concentration of air pollutants in the atmosphere, certain plant species were recommended which
are having the quality of absorbing toxic pollutants from air and help in the reduction of pollutants in the
atmosphere. Therefore, in the present study, after discussing the trend of benzene pollution at selected sites, two
plant species namely, Dracaena deremensis and Chamaedorea Seifrizii which are according to literature reported
(NASA Clean Air Study, 2010) the most benzene absorbing species were selected and analyzed for Air Pollution
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Tolerance Index (APTI) at both the sites. No visible injury due to pollution impact was identified at Site I. A
comparison of Site I & II Table 3(b) showed that all the parameters (total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, pH and relative
water content) were declined in Chamaedorea Seifrizii registered a declining trend at Site I (traffic intersection) as
compared to Site II (institutional and residential). On the other hand, Dracaena deremensis remained unaffected at
both the sites. In case of Dracaena deremensis, there was no significant difference found in chlorophyll and pH
content while high ascorbic acid activity and RWC was observed at Site I as compared to Site II Table 3 (a). When
the plant is exposed to any external stress e.g. ozone stress then its uptake occurs through leaf stomata. Once
penetrated in the leaf apoplast, O3 is rapidly converted to ROS (reactive oxygen species) like O 2, H2O2, peroxyl
radical, and other active O2 species which are toxic in nature and can oxidize -SH groups of proteins and cause
lipid oxidation and/or peroxidation (Hippeli and Elstner, 1996), decrease the amounts of Rubisco and inhibit
photosynthetic activity (Hoigné and Bader, 1976).
Table 3a. Variation in biochemical parameters and APTI values in Dracaena deremensis at Site I and Site II during winter
months (Oct-Nov’10).
Parameters
Chlorophyll (Chl)
Ascorbic Acid (AA)
pH (pH)
Relative Water Content (RWC)
APTI
Unit
mg/g f.w.
3
mg/m
%
-
Site I (Polluted)
a
8.36 ± 0.89
a
67.88 ± 1.99
a
6.9 ± 3.33
b
63.98 ± 2.41
a
54.76 ± 0.32
Site II (Less polluted)
a
7.13 ± 0.12
b
40.54 ± 3.99
a
6.2 ± 1.13
a
49.23 ± 1.72
a
52.99 ± 0.78
Table 3b. Variation in biochemical parameters and APTI values in Chamaedorea Seifrizii at Site I and Site II during winter
months (Oct-Nov’10) .
Parameters
Chlorophyll (Chl)
Ascorbic Acid (AA)
pH (pH)
Relative Water Content (RWC)
APTI
Unit
mg/g f.w.
3
mg/m
%
-
Site I (Polluted)
b
2.64 ± 1.24
a
18.04 ± 2.38
b
4.10 ± 2.10
a
27.02 ± 0.84
b
9.33 ± 0.33
Site II (Less polluted)
a
4.22 ± 0.14
a
16.97 ± 1.23
a
6.01 ± 1.17
a
25.71 ± 1.15
a
20.56 ± 0.54
Note: Each value represents mean of 13 replicates + standard error. Data followed by different letters in a row are significantly
different at P≤0.05. Data followed by same letters in a row are non-significant at P≤0.05.
Thus, those plants which are having high ascorbic acid activity can prevent the production of ROS by
scavenging H2O2 (Mehler, 1951). Also, it is a strong reductant and high amounts of this substance favours pollution
tolerance in plants (Keller and Schwager,1977; Lee, 1985). The level of this acid declines on pollutant exposure
(Keller and Schwager,1977). Thus, plants maintaining high ascorbic acid level even under polluted conditions are
considered to be tolerant to air pollutants. Ascorbic acid, through its reducing power, protects chloroplasts against
SO2 induced H2O2, O2 and OH accumulation, and thus protects the enzymes of the CO2 fixation cycle and
chlorophyll from inactivation (Tanaka et al., 1982). Together with leaf pH, it plays a significant role in determining
the SO2-sensitivity of plants (Chaudhary and Rao,1977; Rao, 1983). Its reducing power is more at higher and less
at lower pH values (Seyyednjad, 2011). Thus, it may be possible that ascorbic acid protects chloroplasts and
chlorophyll functions from pollutants through its pH-dependent reducing power.In case of total chlorophyll, decline
in chlorophyll content has been observed in Chamaedorea Seifrizii but not in Dracaena deremensis. Kuddus et al.,
2011 suggested that tolerance of plants to any of the pollutant may be linked with synthesis or degradation of
chlorophyll and those having high chlorophyll content under field conditions are generally tolerant to air pollutants.
A considerable loss in total chlorophyll in the leaves of plants of Chamaedorea Seifrizii at Site I supports the
argument that chloroplast is the primary site of attack by air pollutants such as SPM, SO 2 and NOX, O3 (Tripathi
and Gautam, 2007). Air pollutants enter into the tissues through the stomata and cause partial denaturation of the
chloroplast and decrease pigment contents in the cells of polluted leaves. Thus, for example, Rao and Leblanc,
1966 mentioned that high amount of gaseous SO2 causes destruction of chlorophyll and that might be due to the
+2
replacement of Mg by two hydrogen atoms and degradation of chlorophyll molecules to phaeophytin. No
significant change was observed in pH in case of Draceana deremensis (Table 4 (a)), at both the sites. Moreover,
the pH in Draceana deremensis, was reported to be more than Six, whereas, in Chamaedorea it was four at Site I.
In the presence of an acidic pollutant, the leaf pH is lowered and the decline is greater in sensitive than in tolerant
plants (Joshi et al., 2009). The change in leaf extract pH might influence the stomatal sensitivity due to air pollution.
Saxena et al., 2011, observed that pH on the higher side could provide tolerance in plants against pollutants. Thus,
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a higher level of leaf-extract pH under polluted conditions increase the tolerance ability of Draceana deremensis
whereas, Chamaedorea Seifrizii with less pH came out to be sensitive towards pollutant stress. In case of Relative
Water Content, significant difference has been observed at Site I & II in case of Dracaena while no significant change
has been recorded in Chamaedorea at both the sites (Table 4(a &b)). Moreover the value of RWC was found to be
higher in case of Dracaena as compared to Chamaedorea at both the sites. High water content within a plant body
helps to maintain its physiological balance under stress conditions such as exposure to air pollution. High RWC
favours drought resistance in plants. Due to air pollution, there is reduction in transpiration rate due to damage caused
to the leaf engine that pulls water up from the roots (1-2% of the total); consequently, the plants neither bring minerals
from the roots to the leaf where biosynthesis occurs nor cools the leaf (Swami et al., 2004). Moreover, RWC is
associated with protoplasmic permeability, more so in the case of sensitive species (Oliver et al., 2011). Air pollutants
increase cell permeability (Xu et al., 2009). Pollutant induced increased permeability in cells causes loss of water and
dissolved nutrients, resulting in early senescence of leaves (Houimli et al., 2010). It is likely, therefore, that plants with
high RWC under polluted conditions may be tolerant to pollutants.
As per the present study, Dracaena deremensis came out to be the tolerant species at both the sites while
Chamaedorea Seifrizii was under sensitive range at polluted site (Site I) and comes under intermediate range at
unpolluted site (Site II). Sulistijorini, 2008 found the similar result, where the APTI values in plants were less in
polluted site as compared to unpolluted site, though the difference in APTI values were not significant. Plants
growing in air Polluted environment often responded and showed significant changes in their morphology,
physiology and biochemistry (Karthiyayini et al., 2005). These plants can be effectively used as bioindicators of the
air pollutants. Although the sensitivity to air pollutants varies across the plant community with some being ‘tolerant’
showing no or minimal symptoms and other being ‘Sensitive’ that shows symptom even if the air pollutants
increases in small amounts (Priyanka and dibyendu, 2009). Similar responses was observed in our study where
Tolerant species (Dracaena deremensis) didn’t respond significantly to the changing environment condition and
sensitive species (Chamaedorea Seifrizii) responded to even minute changes in the environment of both the
selected sites. Thus, the APTI value of a particular geographic area can be used for biomonitoring of that area. The
APTI value represented in Table 4 (a&b), shows that amongst the selected plant species, Dracaena deremensis
had a higher APTI value, and was most tolerant at all the sites throughout the study period on the other hand
Chamaedorea Seifrizii with least APTI value was sensitive and came under sensitive range at polluted site (Site I)
whereas intermediate at unpolluted (Site II) during the study period. The plants have the potential to serve as
excellent quantitative and qualitative index of pollution since biomonitoring of plants is an important tool to evaluate
the impact of air pollution on plants (Sadeghian and Mortazaienezhad, 2012). Thus, Dracaena deremensis was
tolerant at selected sites and according to literature reported (NASA Clean Air Study, 2010) good absorbers of
benzene in air whereas Chamaedorea Seifrizii act as bioindicator.
CONCLUSION
From the present study it has been concluded that, the concentration of benzene was higher at those
areas which are at or near to traffic intersection and also the petrol refueling stations nearby were proved to be
major reason for the increment in the value of benzene in air. Moreover, for improving the quality of air in the
atmosphere two plant species were selected and Dracaena dermenisis was found to be under tolerant category
both and and good absorbers of benzene in air whereas Chamaedorea Seifrizii was found to be sensitive and
serve as bioindicator..
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author, Ms. Pallavi Saxena, is highly grateful to Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
for awarding me Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) for pursuing doctoral studies and immense support in the form
of financial assistance is highly rewarding.
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